What is a Portion? Measure your way to become a Portion Pro!

Trying to eat healthier or lose weight without knowing HOW MUCH you ate is a futile pursuit. I know this because I joined WW years ago and tried it. I tried to lose weight by guesstimating how much I was eating. When I wasn’t losing much weight I thought I should FINALLY listen to the advice of the group leader, weight and measure my food.

So began my food measuring adventure (I say adventure now, since it is behind me). I procrastinated on this because I knew it was gonna be lots of work and was completely foreign to me. I has a  portion wake-up call when I measured a portion (1 cup) of pasta and realized I had been eating like triple the amount my whole life.

Oh Snap!

But I am here to make this easier for you. From pain in the ass to mildly annoying. When it comes down to it, this is work. I have tips to simplify the process and make it a streamlined part of your daily life.

I am going to let you know what a serving is and what it looks like for most major types of food you would eat. I am also gonna show you how to make measuring easier and a part of your life. But before we get started I want to let you know what you will need to measure you food effectively.

These are the tools you’ll need:

• 1 set of measuring cups (I love my stainless steel ones!)
• 1 digital food scale (They’re not expensive at all and totally worth it, even great for baking)
• Will power

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Fruits and Vegetables 

1 cup = 1 serving

For the most part 1 cup equals one serving and 1 large fruit is about equal to a cup. That’s pretty fucking easy! But there are a couple stipulations and a little fine print, not like pharmaceutical fine print, but some things you should know.

• Juice DOES count towards your serving of fruit BUT a big one,you’re not getting all the benefits of eating fruit, like the fiber and the fact it fills your stomach, juice does not.

• Dried fruit also counts and a mere 1⁄2 cup is a serving!

• Leafy greens such as those you would use for your salad, well you need 2 cups to equal a serving. Which is good since that means you get to eat a bigger salad!!

Pasta/ Rice/ Grains

1 cup = 1 serving (or the size of your closed fist)

Bread

1 slice = 1 serving

Meat

3 oz. = 1 serving (About the size of a deck of cards.)

Cheese

1.5 oz. = 1 serving (or the size of your index finger)

Milk

1 cup = 1 serving

Alcohol (Your Favorite Part!)

Amount varies depending on the type…
Beer = 12 oz. 
Wine = 5 oz. 
Liquor = 1.5 oz. 

How to Make Measuring Your Food Easy

Keep your measuring cups and scale in a very easy and accessible place.

I have my measuring cups hanging over my stove for easy access and my scale is on the counter. Make it easy for yourself! 

Buy pre measured or pre portioned food when possible.

This way you have to do NO work and you still get those awesome results. Some good ones are: packs of nuts, oatmeal packets, applesauce, hummus, yogurt, 100 calorie packs, etc. I hate to spend the extra money, but when you are starting out, it is soooo worth the convenience. You’re already stressed about this big change, you don’t need anymore stress!

Let’s Talk Alcohol… Portion Tips and Tricks

We’re gonna be real here, just because you wanna be healthy and maybe lose some weight doesn’t mean that you’re gonna stop drinking. In fact, you may want to drink more! LOL! Here are some tips on watching your alcohol portions.

Love wine?

Make yourself a pimped out wine glass that has a design or a mark at the 5 oz. point so that you can stay on target! You can drink from an awesome personalized cup and stay on track- Portioning in style!

Love cocktails?

Get yourself a cute little bar tool set. You will look like a bartending pro, no one will know you’re measuring for health sake! 

But really, let’s talk beer!

I could go on and on about craft beer and why I love it so much, but this is the health-benefit reason why I love my beer!

Since beer comes already packaged in bottles or cans, it’s pre-measured and pre-portioned for you. Wine and liquor has to be measured yourself. At a party, are you gonna wanna whip out your measuring cups? So beer made it easier for me. I also get to drink a lot more beer than I do wine or liquor per portion…score.

Beer also fills you up, so you can’t eat much while you’re drinking it. When I started on this health quest, the craft beer movement was starting to really take off and there are so many awesome varieties of beer that it made drinking more fun! Now that I don’t drink the quantities that I used to, I focus on quality over quantity.

It’s important you don’t take away all the things you love when embarking on a healthy new life, this is a forever change. You gotta live a life that makes you happy or you’ll go right back where you were!